Google Ads: 6 reasons to care and 4 reasons not to bother

It can take a lot of time and effort to get the best results from paid search. But when it works, the results can be phenomenal.
So how do you know whether to invest in this kind of marketing? Is Google Ads right for your business?

Why Google Ads is the solution for you:

1. It delivers instant results

With Google Ads you can set up a simple account in an hour and start getting sales in 2 hours. This is because you skip right to the top of the Google search results page instead of having to wait for months for your SEO strategy to pay off.

2. Limited accessibility means you can get the edge over competition

Google Ads is complex and takes some skill to do right. However, this does mean not everyone can or does take advantage of this great resource. You can stand out from the crowd on Google and start appearing in front of your target audience whilst your competitors still struggle.

3. It is measurable and answers questions you have about your business and ones you never thought to ask

As with everything digital, Google Ads can track every little detail and feedback is instant.

Want to find out what someone typed into Google who then went on to purchase your highest margin product? Not a problem. Want to see what keywords give you the best ROI? Not a problem.

And if the data shows that something is not working, your Google Ads campaign can be updated straight away to sort out the issue.

4. Lots of options make it flexible to your needs

Google Ads used to be just text Ads and simple display Ads that only appealed to a few people. Those days are long behind us now. There are so many different options now: from Google Shopping Ads, remarketing, Gmail Ads and YouTube Ads. The list is long so even if the standard text Ad doesn’t meet your needs, you will most probably find a format that will!

5. It is great at pulling in brand new customers to then turn into lifelong customers

Other forms of marketing may have you constantly reaching out to the same people trying to get a different result and push them into buying. With Google Ads you have access to new audiences all the time. Estimates show that Google processes over 3.5 billion searches per day and Google Ads enable you to reach out to anyone who searches using Google.

Google Ads offer very clever and specific targeting of audiences. Google Ads also give you full control over which landing page the visitor is directed to when they click.

With Google Ads always pulling in the right kind of new visitors you can expand your customer base and then use traditional, cheaper marketing campaigns like email to keep them as life long customers.

6. Majority of space is now taken by Ads in the important above the fold space in Google search

For many searches, the space at the top of the listings is now completely dominated by Ads, particularly when the search is on mobile. It is not uncommon for 4 text ads to appear at the top of the page in Google search.

So even the organic listings that appear in the top 3 results are often appearing below the fold. If you want your listing to appear in the top half of the page, sometimes it is now only possible to achieve that with a Google Ad.

Why not to care about Google Ads:

1. It takes a lot of effort and the complexity level is high

Google Ads is a lot more complex than it used to be. It is very unlikely that you will be able to set up a successful campaign by yourself unless you have a lot of experience or training. This can lead to wasted money and a bad taste in the mouth that will forever taint your view of Google Ads.

2. It can be expensive if you don’t know what you are doing or you are in a very competitive market

In some areas Google Ads is very competitive with clicks going for well above £10. This may be because the actual product you are selling is worth thousands of pounds, or it could be that a bidding war has got out of hand and has completely destroyed your margins.

Google Ads has a lot of features that help the smaller business against the big ones. However, if the area you are selling in is highly competitive and you don’t have the marketing budget to match, you may want to look again.

3. It may just not be appropriate for your business

There are certain business models we have encountered out there that are just not suited for Google Ads. For example, selling low cost items where the click cost is the same or higher than the product, or where the target market are not active internet users. In these and other cases maybe you should look at other options.

4. A bad website will not be cured by Google Ads

One big problem for Google Ads is a bad website. It’s all well and good sending users to a website, but if they instantly leave it or can’t find what they want, you are wasting money.

You need to make sure your website can convert users before you start spending money sending people there.

Are you looking for advice on new or existing Google Ads campaigns?

At Zanzi Digital we have lots of experience of helping our clients to run successful paid search campaigns. And we have examples of where we have advised our clients that paid search is not for them.

If you are already running Google Ads then Zanzi can offer a free, no obligation Google Ads review to see if we can suggest any improvements to your campaigns. If you are thinking about trying Google Ads for your business, we will be happy to have a chat with you about it to see if we think it can make an impact.